By Linda Fisher Thornton
Since moral growth is a lifelong pursuit, moral education needs to start early, and it needs to continue throughout our professional careers. This requires quite a bit more effort than just doing an “annual ethics training.” Since ethical leadership itself is multidimensional and nuanced, any ethical leadership development for leaders must be multifaceted and nuanced.
Unlocking Moral Awareness
How can we help leaders develop the moral thinking and awareness that they need to make good leadership choices? What specific conversations and experiences will support moral development?
I have compiled a list of 15 things that we can do in our organizations to encourage ethical awareness and moral growth. These elements can be applied as part of ongoing leadership development in any organization.
15 Ways to Encourage Moral Growth in Leadership
1. Provide Opportunities to Build Intercultural Competence
2. Create Cognitive Dissonance (an Uncomfortable Awareness That Our Thinking Needs to Change)
3. Build Awareness of the Flaws in Our Human Thinking
4. Teach Systems Thinking
5. Teach Leaders to Honor and Value Differences
6. Teach Leaders About Global Resource Limitations and How to Use Sustainable Business Practices
7. Teach Global Thinking and Global Citizenship
8. Teach Leaders to Demonstrate Respect and Use Positive Interpersonal Behaviors
9. Model Ethical Leadership
10. Help Leaders Learn to Think Longer-Term (Generations, Rather than Quarters)
11. Teach Leaders How to Find Mutual Benefit When Solving Problems
12. Help Leaders Develop Self-Awareness
14. Help Leaders Develop Ethical Awareness
15. Talk About What Ethical Leadership Looks Like in Day-to-Day Practice
This list may get you thinking about other ways to encourage ethical awareness and moral growth. What would you add?
Unleash the Positive Power of Ethical Leadership
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